Knitting-machine.



' No. 824,043. v PATBNTED JUNE 19, 1901;.

J. P. & e. B. SHEPPARD at A.- J. mum.

KNITTING MACHINE.

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Jnucnfozs agmmw No. 824,043. PATENTED JQKE 19, 1906. J. P. 6: G. B. SHEPPARD & A. J. MANKIN.

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MN- awn... c Wm. B I r a i I: w R f h 355% Q... w mm M R m m. u ut a A 6? N EN g. N 5H. M m m X u PATENTED JUNE 19, 1906? J. P. & G. B. SHEPPARD & A. J. MANKIN. KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLIUATIUN TILED APR. 26. 1905.

witness Zluuewtom 51,6? 5 Mk pads directly or through the sinkers them- UNITED sTArns PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN P. SHEPPARD, GEORGE B. SI-IEPPARD, AND ARTHUR J. MANKIN, OF SALEM, NEW JERSEY; SAID GEORGE E. SHEPPARD AND MANKIN ASSIGNORS TO SAID JOHN P. SHEPPARD.

KNITTING- No. 824,043. Specification of Application filerl April 26, 1

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN P. SHEPPARD, 7 Gnonon B. SHEPPARD, and ARTHUR J. MAN- KIN, of Salem, county of Salem, and State of New Jersey, have invented an Improvement in Knitting-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention has reference to knittingmachines; and it consists of certain improvements which are fully set forth in the following specification and shown in the eccornpenying drawings, which form a part thereof.

Our invention has for its obiect the menufactnre of lace stockings in which the lacework may be continued from the top down to the ankle both at front and back. While this has been accomplished upon speciaily constructed machines of corn heated structure for the manufacture of ndies or lar e sizes of stockings, our invention secures t 6 same results by small additions to a. wellknown type of knitting-machine heretofore adapted to knit all sizes of stockings, except the very small sizes and with lecework down the front only. By the addition of our improvements this class of machine is given greater capacity than the more complicated machines above referred to, because it not only then has capacity for making large sizes of lace stockings, but small sizes as well.

Our invention, more specifically considered, is en improvement upon thetype of knitting inechine described in the United States Letters Patent-to E. J. Franck, No. 536,616,0f April 2,1895,No.656,538,0f Au gust 21, 1900, and No. 671,995, of April 16, 1901, end No. 706,509, of August 12, 1902, to Bard, and to which reference is made for the general details and mode of operation of the machine in knitting stockings. It will he suliicient in describing our improvements to assume certain operations for the ordinary and Well-known parts of the machines as dis closed in said Franck and Bard patents.

Our invention consists in roviding oer tein of the sinkers withpads a. a ted to close the beards of certain of the nee es designed to assist in the makingof lacoworkat the time they are being reci rocated and combining therewithcam devices for operating the selves, said cam devices being thrown in. and

MACHINE.

Letters Patent.

905. Serial No. 35 7,424.

Patented June 19, 1906.

out of operation under the control of a pattern-chin n Our invention also comprehends'details of construction which, together with the features ahove s ecified, will he better understood by re erence to the drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of a knitting-machine having our improvements applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a cross-section of same on line 2 2. Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a portion of Fig. 9. Fi 4 is a side elevation of one of the sinkers having our improved pad applied thereto. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the pads removed. Fig. 6 shows the end of one of the sinkers with the pad secured rigidly thereto. Fig. 7 is an elevation of the knitting end of one of the needles. Fig. 8 is a similar end of one of the blind needles which Inavbe used in knitting open-work. Fig. 9 is a plan view of a portion of one end of the machine, showing a modified pattern mechanism for operating the sinker-pads; and Fig. 10 is a plan view of needle-head with loose sinker-pads. V

B is the needle-heed and is stationary.

F represents the needles, which are of the benrded type, as shown in Fig. 7. These needles are erran ed in two sets. each ep roximately cxten ing half around the need e-cylinder. Each set is reciproceted by one of the lifter-irames C Cf, and they are reciprocated alternately in the well-known manner. One of these sets of needles is further under control of fashioning devices for throwing needles into or out of action for forming the heel and the; out the details of that mechanism are not shown.

B is the sinker-bed and is carried by the needle-head B, and D is the sinker-gear, ro-

toting upon the sinker-bed end havin camgrooves for reciprocating the sinkers v awe from the need e-shanks when the three guide is in the act of delivering the thread.

R is the thread-guide and rotates with the sinker-gear.

The foregoing parts are all well known and will not need any further description.

The sinker-bars in plain knitting do not affect the action of the hoards; but for laceknitting we provide them with pads E, having operating cam-surfaces e e extending duce a more satisfactory result to employ blind needles, such as shown in Fig. 8, W

down upon each side of the nose of the sinker, so as to project under the descending beards of the needles and close them, whereby instead of taking the thread under them the thread is caused to pass over the outside of the beard and fail to be knitted. In this manner there is formed open-work between two vertical rows of stitches separated by one or more rows, according to the arrangement of the sinkers having the pads. This is the novel part of our invention,,becausc in machines of the class described no spaces or open-work between vertical rows of stitches can be allowed either by omitting needles or by using blind needles, as such would put the machine in condition in which it could not perform the plain or solid knitting, such as is necessary in knitting the heel and toe and the sole portion of the foot. In machines of the character referred to herein it has heretofore been possible to only make the lace or openwork upon the half of the needles which knit the front portion of the stocking and rely upon tuckwork or plain knitting at the back. By our employment of the sinker-pads we are enabledto make the needles act as blind. needles whenever necessary and at the pro )er time cause them to again operate as nee les for plain knitting.

Now while it is evident that in the case of the set of needles employed in knitting the front of the stocking certain needles may be omitted to form the open-work of the lace effect such effect would of necessity be reuired to be continued all the way down. to the toe; but by employing ordinary needles with our improved sinker-pads the same result may be secured, and in addition thereto the lace effect may be stopped at any place desired, or solid knitting and lace effect may be alternately knitted down the stocking, and, if desired, this may be varied by employing tucked work alone in place of the solid 'knittin as an alternate effect for the lace. It will thus be seen that by the employment of our improvement a greater varietyef effects may be produced, as well as securing the lace effect down the back. It will also be understood that though the 0 enwork of the lace effect may be effecte by omitting needles in the set which knit the front portion of the stocking it would proere the "designis to be uniform throughout the stocking, because the tension 11 on the yarn will be similar in such case to w at would be the case with the needles 0 crating with the pads to produce open-wor in conjunction with the tuckwork in forming the lace effect at the back portion of the leg of the stocking. In this way the tensions would be uniform and the resulting lace efi'ectat front and back would be identical.

Referring again to the pads E, we prefer to make them adjustable upon the sinkers, and this may be accomplished by making the pads in the form of loops, with the two legs fitting over the sinker-bar and guided thereon by lateral guides I received in horizontal slots E in the pads. This pad is pushed toward the needles by rams i, Fig. 10, and may be moved back by the beards of the needles when not otherwise prevented. The nose of the sinker enters between two nec- (lles F, and the cam-surfaces e e of the pad Operate upon the beards of the needles, so that if both of the parts c are made lon enough to act there will be open-work equfi to the space occupied by two needles; but if only one of the cam-surfaces e be made operative then the open-work will occupy the space of one needle. It is a matter of option in the design whether the open-work shall be narrow by throwing one needle out of action or wide by throwing two needles out of action. If desired, the pad-cam can be rigid with the sinker, as shown in Fig. 6, in which case the sinker as a whole will be Inoved by cam G, as shown in Fi 1. In this case the cam G is not require to more than touch the pads as it asses them, the friction of the sinkers hol ing the pads up to the needles.

Each of the cams G is secured to a reciprocating slide G, which is guided upon the top of the sinkengear D and is provided on its outer end with a pin g, extending downward below the gear. As the gear rotates this pin 9 passes between the cam-surfaces h h of the pivoted frame H, which is pivoted upon a standard H This frame is oscillated in one direction by a spring H and in the other direction by the rod J 2 and lever J, pivoted. at J and having its free end operated by cams I on the chain M, which is the chain employed to operate the usual fashioning mechanism-that is, put it into and out of operation. From this it will be seen that under the action of the cam I of the chain the cam-surface h will be put into operative position to throw the pad-cam G out of actuatingHposition, and when ermitted the spring oscillates the frame in the op 0- site direction and brings the cam-surface in operative position to force the cam G forward to operate the pads E. The time of operation of the pads J by the cam G is followin the layin in of the thread, and conse quent y the cam% follows the thread-guide R. The chain M is rotated by a chain-wheel M on the shaft S, which is intermittently rotated in the usual manner.

In lace of employing the fashioning-chain M an the sprin H we may omit the spring and use an additional chain 1, having cam.- lugs I and I to o crate upon the free end of the lever J to osci late it at stated intervals, said chain being driven by the chain-wheel I on shaft S. This construction is clearly shown in Fig. 9. It is immaterial to our inin knitting continuous lacework at the front of the stocking. The pads may be supported and guided in any other suitable manner.

While we have shown our invention a lied to the Franck and Bard types oi finitting-machine, we do not restrict ourselves to any particular make of this class of machines, as our invention is applicable to all forms of knitting-machines em loying' vertically-reciprocating beard-need es, sin ers, and means for producing tuckwork thereon.

Ne do not confine ourselves to the details of construction, as these may be modified in various ways without departing from the spirit of our invention.

Having now described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Let-' ters Patent, is-

1. In a knitting-machine of the class de scribed, the combination of a needle-cylinder, reciprocating needles therefor, a series of sinkers arranged annular'ly about said needle head, cam mechanism for reciprocating the sinkers, means for producing tuck-stitches upon certain of the needles, sinker-pads greatly less in number than the series of sinkers distributed between certain of the sinkers so as 'to act only upon a portion of the needles to reduce open-work, means for moving the sin er-pads into osition to close the beards of the needles w ien descending, and means for feeding the yarn to the needles.

2'. In a knitting-machine of the class described, the combination of a needle-cylinder, reciprocating needles therefor, a series of sinkers arranged annularly about said needlehead, cam mechanism for reciprocating the sinkers, means for reducing tuck-stitches upon certain of t e needles, sinker-pads greatly less in number than the series of sinkers distributed between certain of the sinkers so as to act only upon a portion of the needles to produce open-work, rotating can: means for movin the sinkenpads into position to close the beards of the needles moving the sinheaped-operating cam into or out of operative position with res ect to the sinker-pads whereby they may e operated only at certain times, and means for feeding the yarn to the needles.

3. In a knittin -machine of the class described, the com )ination of reciprocating beard-needles, with sinkers and sinker-pads, cam means for moving the sinker-pads into position for closing the beards of the needles as they are drawn down, pattern mechanism for controlling the time of action of the cam means for moving the sinker-pads, consisting of a pattern-chain, a lever operated by the chain, scam-frame operated by the lever, and a connection operated by the cam-frame for moving the cam means which operates the sinker-pads, and means to feed yarn to the needles rior to their descent.

4. In a knitting-machine, a needle-cylinder, aseries of vertically-reciprocating beardneedles in said cylinder, means for produc' ing trick-stitches upon the needles, sinkers .for the needles, cam-pads between a portion of the sinkers each having an upwardly-extending shoulder and adapted to produce 0 en-work, rotating cam devices acting'upon t e upwardly-extending shoulders to insure the pads being moved into the ath of the beards of the descending nee ,es, and a thread-guide to deliver thread to the needles, the position of the rotating earn bein such that it operates thepads to close the cards at the time the needles would otherwise take the thread under their beards.

5. In a knitting-machine a reciprocating sinker combined with a cam-pad on its side to press in the heard of the needle and adjustabl held upon and wholly supported by the sin er whereby it may be shifted toward or from the end of the sinker.

6. In a knitting-machine a sinker E having a transverse guide E, combined with asinkerad fitted over the top of the sinker-bar and aving downwardly-extending sides provided with slotted portions E to receive the guide E and one or more cam portions 7. In a machine of the character described, beardneedles and a needle-cylinder for supporting thorn in a circle, means to reciprocats the needles, sinkers having sinker-pads [or closing the boards of the needles, :1 rotatin frame above the sinkcrs, and an adjustalfie cam carried thereby adapted to operate upon the sinker-pads to move them into position to close the beards of the needles as they descend. i

8. In a machine of the cl'uiractcr described, beard-needles and a ncodle-cyliin'ler for sup porting them in a circle. means to reciprocate the needles, sinkers arranged about the new dies, Sinh'er'pads for closing the boards of the needles arranged between a portion of the 'sinkers, a rotating frame :ilmvn the sinkcrs, when descending, pattern mechanism for an'adinstablo an: carried thereby adapted "to operate upon the sinkenpeds to move them into position to (lose the boards of the needles as they (llSCPIKl. and pattern mechanism for controlling the adjustable cam for putting it into and out of operative position with respect to the sinker-pads.

Q. In a TIltLClllflQ of the class described, a

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series of reciprocating bcard-ncedles arranged in a circle, combined with a series of radiating sinkers annularly arranged and having their ends extending between the needles, means for producing tuckstitches upon the needles, a series of cam-pads greatly less in number than the number of sinker-s and distributed at intervals between the sinkers so as to act only upon a portion of the needles to close their beards when the needles are drawn down to produce open-work, rotating cam devices to reciprocate the sinkers, and independent pattern-controlled rotating cam devices having an axis concentric with the circle of needles for operating the cam-pads at predetermined times.

10. In a machine of the class described, a circular row of beard-needles arranged in two sets one set having blind needles arranged at intervals among the ordinary needles, and the other set having ordinary needles, combined with sinkers for the needles, sinkerpads for a portion of the sinkcrs of the set of ordinary needles whereby the needles acted on thereby shall temporarily perform the function of blind needles and means for putting said pads into and out of operation at stated intervals.

11. In a knitting-machine of the class described, the combination of a series of beardneedles arranged in a circle, cam mechanism for reciprocating the needles, means for producing tuck-stitches upon the needles, sink ers arranged about the needles, a series of cam-pads greatly less in number than the sinkers supported by and movable independently of the sinkcrs and arranged in a plane about the outside of the needles to close the beards thereof and produce open-work, a traveling cam for moving the cam-pads into mm; fgr closing the beards of the needles as said needles are drawn down independently of the normal operation of the sinkers, and means to feed the yarn to the needles.

12. In a knittingmachinc of the class described, the combination of a needle-cylinder having a series of reciprocating beardneedles, a series of sinkers arranged annularly about the needle-cylinder, an annular ring having cams for operating the sinkers, campads arranged between and supported directly by a portion or the sinkers and having upward extensions projecting above the sinkers between the needle-cylinder and annular ring, cam devices for operating upon the extensions of the cam-pads for moving them into position for closing the beards of the needles when they are drawn down for making open-work, pattern mechanism for controlling thetime of action of the cam devices which move the cam-pads, and means to feed yarn to the needles.

13. In a knitting-machine, a sinker combined with a sinkerpad formed of a U-shaped metal piece or saddle fitting over the upper edge of the sinker and forming a cam c at its forward end and an upward extension above the sinker.

14. A sinker for a bmtrdedmeedle knittingmachine having sinkcr-pads arranged upon opposite sides near its end to act as cams to close the beards of the adjacent needles, said pads being supported by and adjustable on the sinker whereby they are movable toward or from the end of the sinker.

15. A sinker for a bearded-needle knittingmachine having sinkerpads arranged near its end and upon opposlte sides adapted to close the beards of needles upon each side of the sinker, and shoulders upwardly extending above the sinker by which to operate the pads.

16. In a knitting-machine the combination of a needle-cylind er; two sets of needles therefor for respectivelv knittim the front of the stocking and the back, heel, sole and toe of the stockin each set comprising approximately oncalf the needles; means for reciprocating the two sets of needlesalternately; sinkers for said needles arranged in a circle about the needle-cylinder; means for operating the sinkers; means for producing tuckstitches upon the needles; )ads arranged between a portion only of sin ers of the half of the needles which are intended to knit the back, heel, sole and toe of the stocking for closing the beards of certain of the needles when drawn down so as to prevent them knitting and thereby produce open-work; pattern-controlled means for throwing said pads into operating position; and a thread-guide to feed a thread to the needles.

1?. in a knitting-machine of the class described, a needle-cylinder, two sets of bearded needles for said cylinder, means for reciprocating said sets of needles alternately, 13951115 for feeding a thread to the needles, sinkers for assisting in ordinary or regular knitting, means for producing tuck-stitches upon the needles, means for producing openwork upon a portion of the needles, and pattern-controlled mechanism for controlling the time of action of the means for producing open-work upon the needles whereby lacework effects may be formed in the knitted fabric at those parts only where desired.

1.8. In a machine of the class described, namcl one having a needle-cylinder, two sets 0 bearded needles therefor arranged in a circle, means for reciprocatin said sets alternately, means for knitting a iicel and a toe upon one set of the needles, means for producing plain stitches upon all of the needles, and means for producing tuckstitches upon a portion of the needles of each set, in combination with means for rendering other of the needles than those upon which tuck-stitches are made of either or both sets of needles inoperative so as to make open-work separately or associated with the tuck-stitches, and pat action of the lneanswhich render the needles inoperative when producing 0 en-work.

19. In a machine of the c ass described, namely one having a needle-cylinder, two sets of bearded needles therefor arranged in a eir'eie, means for reciprocating said sets alternetely, means for knitting a, heel and a toe upon one set ofthe needles means for roducing plain stitches upon all of the nee les, and means for producing tuck-stitches upon a portion of the needles of each set, in combination with means for rendering oiher of the heel and toe needies than those upon which tuck-stitches are made inoperative so as to make open-Work separate y or associated with the tuck-stitches, and pattern mechanism for cont rollin the time of action of the means which ren er the needles inoperative when producing open-work.

in testimony of which invention we hereunto set our hands.

JOHN P. SHEPPARD. GEORGE B. SHEPPARD. ARTHUR J. MANKIN. Witnesses D, HARREs SMITH, Louis A. \Ymo. 

